Looking Back Detail Page

01 Apr

- Rajiv Mehta
Class of ‘68

‘Examinations are a torture’ proclaim the students on the eve of those dreadful days. The Master stolidly supports their cause by saying that examinations are absolutely necessary to gauge the knowledge of students. I being a student sympathizes with the students wherever they are o this point.
Since recently examinations as a topical discussion has become a controversy and stage has been reached where those in the teaching profession have begun to condemn it quite openly. Many convincing arguments can be offered against them. First and foremost, they are outdated and not adaptable to our modern way of life. This is so because the curriculum of the average school has greatly increased because of the advances made in the various fields of research. This can be more thoroughly felt in the case of science and its various branches. So even if specialization in the particular subject is offered there is too much to study. This fact gives rise to other discouraging facts. A student loses his zest for life on those days before the examinations and he acts like one possessed. He is entrapped in the world of study and is kept there by cruel and hard-hearted parents and teachers. There is a distinct change in his behavior. His general outlook on life remains temporarily changed. He feels old and weary of life. Because of examination the average student has to study as much as 24 hours a day. He can’t help it. There is so much to be revised and learnt that everything else is forgotten. Because of the vast portion to be covered the student becomes nervous, he becomes tense and very often suffers from a nervous breakdown. The next period of agony is the day when the reports are issued. Many of them fail. Some are frustrated and his is one of the cruelest things that can happen to a student. Money and work are wasted.
But what should be proposed as an alternative to examinations? The masters argue that student’s knowledge must be gauged. Yes, I agree that it must be gauged, but there are different ways to gauge it. Examinations should be replacing by a modern and realistic method. For example, let every working day be a sort of an examination. Here the student’s knowledge regarding the cramming subject ca be tested. When the major holidays are approaching a short test like an intelligent quotient test could be given for the subjects that don’t require any cramming. This system is advantageous to all as it gives all a fair chance. Work has to be put in no doubt but not to that excess. That a system such a one mentioned will be followed in ears to come there is no question. Examinations as they are held today are breathing their last as is evident from the world wide opinion. The students would only hope and pray that it will go fast enough and I am one of them.